26 June 2023 Self Care

How do you practice self-care?

Hello to you. How are you? I’m doing ok. Just took Link for his little business walk. It’s really warm and sunny out again today. I will try and get a longer walk later.

Todays prompt is kind of hard to answer as I am a low maintenance kind of girl. On occasion I color my hair but that’s about it for special self care. I keep my nails short and don’t get them manicured professionally. I think the last time I experienced a pedicure was before I got married to my second husband – got my eye brows done then too. That was in 2008! The last time I went to a spa I got a hot rock massage and that’s when I was still living in Florida. My sponsor from AA and I went.

Proverbs 19:8New International Version

8 The one who gets wisdom loves life;
the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.

23 June 2023 Pharmacy Cocktails

Hello to you. How are you? I just got off the phone with the pharmacy through the VA. We decided to take me off the Metaformin as I’ve been having diarrhea taking it. She wants me to try Abilify and taper off of Olanzapine as the side effects of Olanzapine (Zyprexa) are weight gain and fatigue. Apparently Abilify is better about that. She is thinking may be of taking me off of Depakote eventually too – which would be nice. I’m so tired of this pharmaceutical cocktail business! In the end it will hopefully be worth it!

James 5:14-16 NIV

14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

22 June 2023 First Crush

Write about your first crush.

Hello to you. Hope this finds you doing well. I haven’t been out for a walk in a couple of days so no new pictures have been taken. Link hasn’t wanted to get around the block either. He’s turning into a little old man even though he looks like a puppy to me!

Wesley Byers

Todays prompt takes me back to senior high school. That’s when and where I had my first crush. His name was Wesley Byers and sadly he died of cancer on 4 June 2020 – fought for four years with it. Wes was a year ahead of me and it was his close resemblance to David Bowie that initially drew me to him. He hung out with a girl named Joy Farris – just good friends. My friend Laura encouraged me to persue him and we did naughty stuff like put whip cream on his house and donuts under his tires! I know childish but later we actually did meet. We went to the mall together as our first “date.” He picked me up in his blue Malibu car. My Mom and Dad figured out immediately that he was gay – I was clueless! We talked about a bunch of things and it was like talking to myself. We had so much in common to include music like Madonna. One of my favorite memories was visiting him at his house. I remember sitting in his kitchen and just being so happy- he was so beautiful. He had golden hair and brilliant blue eyes and such a lovely smile. In the summer when I took the girl I was babysitting for swim lessons we got to visit as his brother and sister went to lessons too.

The last exchange we had was while I was in the military and had started dating my soon to be husband Ken. Wes had been arrested for shoplifting and in response to the letter he wrote I wrote him a poem Prison of Tears. That’s the last I heard from him. I checked on him periodically through the years. I found out through Facebook my parents inklings about him were correct – he was gay and found a partner. What I found out more recently was he was doing drag with a stage name Roxy Marquis. There are a few videos of his shows on You tube : https://youtu.be/NalAoTySGwU

Corinthians 16:14New International Version

14 Do everything in love.

20 June 2023 Back Pain and Volunteering

Hello to you. How are you? I was supposed to start volunteering today but couldn’t do it. I moved the wrong way a couple days ago and even with a back brace could hardly walk without pain. I don’t like to take Tylenol or other pain medication because a lot of times it doesn’t work for me and it’s hard on the liver over time. I’m already taking medications that are tough on my liver.

The gal I’ve been communicating with at the Food Pantry said she has Tuesdays covered now but would let me know if anything opens up. This is a case of my spirit being stronger than my body! I’m kind of disappointed in myself but I think it was the right thing to do. If I am supposed to volunteer at the pantry I feel another opportunity will present itself.

Psalm 73:26New International Version

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

13 June 2023 Food Pantry

Hello to you. How is your week going so far? I went over and helped a tiny bit at the Middleton Food Pantry this morning. The two gals there were really nice and the place seemed really well organized. I dated some items expiration dates. My lower back wasn’t happy but I wanted to help. They need help on Saturdays also – that’s the day they give out food but I didn’t commit to that – at least not yet! It’s so easy to get over committed to these places – that’s what happened to me before and I ended up quitting. I will pray about this.

Proverbs 22:9New International Version

9 The generous will themselves be blessed,
for they share their food with the poor.

5 June 3023 Fears

What fears have you overcome and how?

Hello to you. How are you today? Todays prompt is about fears I’ve overcome. The biggest one I have had to overcome is the fear of death. I think we all have a healthy fear of that! Ever since death took so many that I have loved – people and animals, I have had to accept that death is a part of life. At some point I too will have to let go of my clutch of this life and go and see what’s next.

Nature and animals have shown me a lot about life after death. I can remember after spreading Sam and Blondies ashes around our oak tree in the front yard millions of pale flying insects came forth. Seeing that happen was kind of like seeing proof of life after death. From ash comes life.

  • Revelation 21:4. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. … 
  • Psalm 34:18. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
  • Psalm 147:3. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

24 May 2023 Legacy

What is the legacy you want to leave behind?

Hello there! How are you? Todays prompt is a good one to contemplate about. When I think of the word legacy I think of a tombstone with a birth date, a dash and a death date. There is so much that little dash represents for most people. It comprises all the little things, the small moments that make up a life. From all the mornings with coffee on the porch, weddings, going to church, days spent at work, walks, getting a hair cut, playing with pets and or children. So many little things we take for granted are in that little dash.

I hope my dash, my legacy is a positive one and will be recalled by those I leave behind with love. These past couple of years I have been kind of dormant. My health condition has made it harder to be who I want to be. I have had to adjust and change – focus on what I can do not what I can’t. I’ve come a long way from even my first year living here in Idaho. There were so many things I was convinced I couldn’t do. I was shell shocked in my body. Everything I used to be able to do with ease I had to work to be able to do again. Stuff like even taking a shower by myself!

I hope the legacy I leave behind will be one of ultimate inspiration – never give up on yourself or others. Always look for the beauty in life around you and you will be rewarded to find it.

Song of Songs 2New International Version

She[a]

2 I am a rose[b] of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.

22 May 2023 Broken Bone

Have you ever broken a bone?

Hello to you. How are you today? Todays prompt calls to mind a story. It was the early morning of my husbands 35th birthday and I was awake. My spirit was moving faster than my body. I went in the garage looking for something and found a huge black cockroach on the wall. This startled me! Then it suddenly flew at me and I grabbed an old purse and threw it to try and stop it from flying on me. In doing this I lost my balance and fell. All the weight of the fall went to my left wrist. Thank God Kyle was home to take me to the emergency room! The people that helped me were kind of scary and I didn’t trust them, they put my wrist in a cast. All the while this was going on, I felt so bad to have ruined Kyles birthday!

The healing process was frustrating – I rebelled against wearing an immobilizing cast. I liked a Velcro brace best. You can tell my wrist has been broken but it healed pretty good.

You can tell my wrist was broken.

Jeremiah 17:14 NIV

14 Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.

19 May 2023 Choosing Joy

This was a birthday gift from my Auntie. She likes to find things with my middle name!

Hello to you. How are you? Today my thoughts turn to Joy. Not only because it’s my middle name but because it is indeed a choice we can make in this life. I have to remind myself! I get so set in my ways – grumpy even. I feel like as I get older I have developed an armor to try and shield myself from getting hurt. Dr. Wilhelm Reich talked about such an armor in his work. Our bodies get rigid and we get almost frozen. When I was in love I was my least rigid. When I chose to approach life with joy my body was fluid and free.

https://orgonomictherapy.com/2013/07/29/concept-of-armoring/ – if your interested to read more about Dr Reich’s theory

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

18 May 2023 Early

Hello to you. How are you? I’m doing alright. Just home from a prayer meeting. I was going to stop and get a breakfast burrito but changed my mind. I am glad as I ran into three dogs on the way back. Their owner lets them out unattended.

Jeremiah 17:14New International Version

14 Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;
save me and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.

A lot of people around me are struggling with health issues to include myself. I think part of it is age related but I am starting to wonder if some of it is from so many having Covid. We don’t really know to what extent our health and immune systems have been compromised by having it and also side effects from the vaccines. We did become sort of Guinea pigs for the pharmaceutical industry with everything that happened!